"Be good to the earth, shop at Lori's / Be good to yourself, shop at Lori's / If you want to live long, be healthy, and strong, shop at Lori's Natural Foods..."

Anyone new to Rochester is bound to remember the first time seeing the TV ad for Lori's Natural Foods. The spot features people dressed up like fruits and vegetables, dancing to a brain-conquering jingle reminiscent of a children's rhyme. The image is a quirky mix of the Fruit of the Loom guys and The Teletubbies.

It's just what owners John J. Sozio and his wife, Lori, discovered they needed to grab viewer attention.

"Nutrition is serious and complicated, and people either tend to be very interested in it or they have some resistance to it," says John, who handles the store's marketing. "I felt if you gave a straight educational message it would be too serious and deadpan. No one would watch it. So I went completely in the opposite direction."

A guitar-playing friend came up with tune, the lyrics were tweaked, and the Lori's jingle was born. "We have people tell us that whenever it's on, their kids will stop what they are doing and sing along to it," John says.

The ad has worked so well, it hasn't been changed in years. "We've really expanded over the last 10 years, and that ad is partly responsible," John says. "It somehow appeals to every age group.

"Besides," he says, "even if I wanted to change it, I don't know if I could convince our employees to dress up in those costumes again."

Businesses will spend nearly $200 billion on TV advertising this year, with a third of it coming from small local businesses, according to Mediaweek.com. The cost of TV advertising used to be prohibitive for the corner liquor or furniture store --- small mom and pops and single-store owners who wanted big exposure. But as cable and network affiliates have brought the costs down, more little guys have jumped into the TV market. Some are creating funny, memorable commercials starring themselves, family members, and pets to get our attention. And it's working.

"The little guys have the same problem as big advertisers," says Mark Stone, creative director for Rochester-based Jay Advertising. "Somehow they have to cut through all the clutter. They have to get in, make their differentiating points quickly, and get out in 30 seconds."

Local TV commercials are like another view of the city's skyline. They tell us something about our interests and needs. Some of them become a part of our vernacular, and at some point, entertain us as much sell us on a particular product or service. Rochester has a bumper crop of these home-grown commercials; businesses and people we see hundreds of times between the news and our favorite shows. Out of that comes a certain kind of fame and celebrity --- small business stars with their own back stories about how they made it.

"Fine wine for a song"

Mike Palmeri, owner of Marketview Liquor, has been in the liquor business since the early '70s. And he says it's not a business for the faint of heart.

"My first liquor store was on Browncroft Boulevard with my brother," Palmeri says. "It was a little, 1,500-square-foot space and we struggled and struggled for three or four years. It took a while for me to realize that we weren't really making any money. I am saying to myself, ‘I am working so hard, I must be making money.' I don't know, I think that's typical for small businesses."

After buying out his brother and relocating to Tops Plaza on Jefferson Road, Palmeri started running TV ads about 10 years ago. His most recent commercials, set to a tune called "Fine Wine for a Song," have him talking about Marketview's large selection of affordable wines with the hummable song in the background. The spot has featured several musical styles, including rock, folk, and a holiday version. The rock version even features Palmeri at the mic in a karaoke moment.

"When they first approached me about being in the ads, I didn't want anything to do with it," he says. "But I think it's a way of letting customers get to know you. I am not a celebrity, but people recognize me and they associate me with the store because they've seen me on TV."

"We deliver everything but babies!"

Salvatore Fantauzzo was only a 16-year-old East High School student when he started Salvatore's Pizzeria. Now with 11 Salvatore's in existence, it has become one of the region's most recognizable food biz names.

His first pizzeria opened on East Main Street, and 29 years later it remains one of his busiest. He says his first employee was his 15-year-old cousin, who he hired to answer the phones and take orders while he made pizzas and handled deliveries.

"It's still a family business," says Fantauzzo. "The sauce, the recipes, the way we do things --- it all started with my family."

He takes a jar of tomato sauce off the shelf. It has the Salvatore's logo across the label like the big name brands found on supermarket shelves.

"This is my grandmother's recipe from Italy," he says. "It's the real deal. It's been like gold for us."

Fantauzzo gets so excited talking about marketing, it's as if he went into business just to have something to promote. He says, after soccer, selling is his passion.

"I'm an old-fashioned pitchman," he says. "That's what I really like to do. I love it."

With the encroachment of national pizza chains in the 1980s, Fantauzzo reinvented his business and turned to advertising. He has developed dozens of ads over the years, and most have a male voice hollering out "Salvatore's" at the end. Another key ingredient is humor.

"Right now we're running the baby ad," he says. It's a 15-second spot that whips on screen with the line, "We deliver everything except babies," while Fantauzzo bounces an infant on his lap.

"This one has been so fascinating because I felt it was really important to emphasize that we deliver an entire dinner to your door in minutes," he says. "But the baby is what grabs all the attention. Everyone wants to know if the baby is real, if the baby is mine, the baby's name, and so on. It's hysterical because you can't predict what will catch people's eye."

That's Arkahn's mom! 

Like Fantauzzo, Robin Hetzler knew at an early age what business she wanted to start. Her passion was working with animals, and she's been in the pet store business for 17 years. Her current store is Robin's Pet Corner, located in Marketplace Mall.

Hetzler says she can't wait to come to work every morning because she loves spending the day with the animals.

"The key to pet stores is having good vets and never getting bored or tired of caring for the animals," she says. "If you no longer like taking care of the animals, then you're done. This is no longer the business for you because it is a lot of hard physical work, feeding them and cleaning up after them."

Pet stores are "touch and feel" retail, says Hetzler. Despite how hard the public can be on pet store owners, the animals are what attract customers. And every day, they come in to visit one pet in particular, Arkahn, Hetzler's striking reddish-brown German Shepard.

Arkahn stars in all of Hetzler's ads. In an appropriately deep and manly talking voice, he sells everything from toys to pet food. And he spends a lot of time keeping his little sidekick, a Chihuahua named Pete, in line.

During store hours Arkahn and Pete sit quietly next to the front counter. Children approach them both as if they have known them for years.

"We all went out to dinner the other night, and I see this lady talking to her friend," says Hetzler. "‘Look over there, that's Arkahn's mom,' the woman says. My name is on the door, but they never remember me. They always remember Arkahn. He's got a sense of humor and people get that about him. You couldn't ask for a better spokesperson. People really love this guy."

"You can't stack cars!" 

Car dealers buy a lot of local TV time, and with so many dealers to choose from Rich Ferrari, general manager of Dick Ide Honda on Panorama Trail in Penfield, knew his ads needed to stand out from the rest. He wanted to use humor, but he also needed to create something that was appropriate for the respected Honda brand.

Ferrari says he thought about hiring a spokesperson. Then he changed his mind.

"If you're going to be in your own ads, you really need to believe what you are telling customers," he says. "When I tell customers ‘You can't stack cars,' I really mean it."

Ferrari --- and, yes, that is his real last name --- says he came up with the concept one December when he was looking out at his snowy lot filled with cars just sitting there.

"I thought, retailers have it easy because they can just put the inventory in the back room on a shelf," he says. "But I can't."

Ferrari has been in the car dealership business for 31 years, and he says competition from other brands has only increased over time. He attributes his success to his enjoyment of the service industry.

"Some people really don't like to serve others, and that's not a problem for me," he says. Referring to the collision, financing, service, and new and used sales, he says, "This business is really five different businesses under one roof, but one thing they all have in common is they are service businesses."

He says the "Can't stack cars" ad really connected with customers over the last two years.

"I knew we had something different," he says. "I'll be in the grocery store and someone will look at me and say, ‘Hey Rich, you can't stack cars.'"

"Friends, take a look at this Cadillac..."

Gary Tabb sells cars differently than Ferrari. Tabb is the front man for Dioguardi Auto Sales on Empire Boulevard. Tabb honed his fiery approach through 35 years of marketing cars and big-ticket toys like boats. One of the first ads he created early in his career was for a Southern California dealership, where he introduced himself, and his dog named Spot, to viewers. The ad was such a huge hit with customers that other dealers began putting animal acts in their commercials too.

Tabb has created a fast-talking, Long Island character that bursts on the screen. He is a salesman's salesman, and he relies on an old advertising trick that fell out of favor --- repetition. (The Head On commercials that play during daytime TV and Jeopardy have recently revived the technique.)

Tabb marches out to the sales lot with his phone number on a cardboard sign, and starts his routine with "Friends, take a look at this Cadillac." Within seconds, Tabb has shown customers three to four cars and repeated the phone number as many as six times in some commercials.

"Let's get to the point," he says. "People are in a hurry. Name me somebody you know that's got all day to be looking for cars."

Tom Dioguardi, the dealership's owner, says he has worked with Tabb for years and his approach works. He says that despite higher gas prices, their biggest challenge is finding the used Cadillacs, Lincolns, and luxury SUVs their customers want.

"Shipping Shock!"

If you buy and sell on online auction site eBay, you've probably noticed The Boxman's "Shipping Shock" ads. The look of horror on the woman's face when she sees what The Boxman's competitors charge for shipping says it all.

Rich Herb is The Boxman, a business niche he has been developing since 1988. He carries all sorts of boxes and packaging materials in his store on East Avenue, near Winton. Customers can purchase the materials and do the wrapping and shipping themselves, or Herb will handle it for them.

"We've boxed and shipped some of the strangest things over the years," he says. "A deer head, airplane wings, banisters --- you name it, and we've probably packed and shipped it."

Herb says he created commercials that would appeal to 10-year-olds and 70-year-olds.

"Those are our customers, the kid with a set of baseball cards he just sold on eBay and the old guy shipping a set of gulf clubs," he says. "We used to have another ad with a guy in a dumpster looking for moving boxes. Don't laugh, we've all tried it. But a nice clean box is better."

What's your favorite local commercial? Sound off in the comment section below.